Remembering Virgil Noel Rice

                This Monday will mark the 96th year since Virgil's birth. Last week at the memorial service for Virgil's youngest sister, Dean Rice LittleStar and her husband, Al LittleStar, the comment was made about her last days, speaking of her beloved brother, Virgil. When Billy Graham was asked about recognition of our saved loved ones in heaven, he quoted from Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church in chapter 13, verse 12 - "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

Virgil from the 1934 Group 
Photograph of the Belford
Grade School

Virgil Noel Rice was born in the Big Bend community, west of Ralston, on May 8, 1927. He arrived as the fifth child born to Daisy Dean Rainey and Ernest Emel Rice and the youngest of the three sons.

                My mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, developed quickly a closeness to Virgil. Less than three years separated Mother and Virgil. No other of her cousins on her mother’s side was closer in age than she and Virgil.

                Mother enjoyed many hours of visiting at his family’s home near the Arkansas River in the Bend.  They both had quiet, gentle natures so understood each other quite well.

                Virgil always excelled at his school studies. He attended Belford Grade School with her. Virgil, as a responsible, mature upperclassman, drove the school bus to transport Big Bend scholars to Burbank High School. My mother had already graduated from high school but was working a temporary job at the bank in Burbank so she rode the bus from her home in the Bend. Move over Uber!

His aspirations to attend Oklahoma A & M College in Stillwater were about to become a reality. Then his father, Ernest Rice, died of cancer at age 60. Virgil’s sense of responsibility to his mother caused him to cancel his plans for college. Instead, he assumed the role of his father and began farming fulltime.

On a lighter note, according to my mother, Leon Lynn and Virgil were great friends. In their early twenties, they purchased convertibles alike. Virgil always drove well-kept vehicles. 

Virgil’s studious nature became evident in his walk with the Lord as he grew into a man who daily studied his Bible. Soon his knowledge became obvious to others, and he was asked to teach Bible classes in the church. A humble man, he never saw his giftedness for teaching the Bible that enabled others to learn, but many who sat under his teaching benefited from the daily cultivation of his relationship with Jesus.

Mother had preserved a couple of photographs from the publication For Land’s Sake. The newspaper dealt specifically with conservation in farming and ranching. In 1966, Virgil began his commitment to conservation of natural resources, which are so important to the farmer. He earned many recognitions from the county chapter as well as at the state level.  He was a pioneer in understanding that the resources given by God required diligent stewardship. 

Helen and Virgil Rice after he received
the Chevron Conservation Tillage Award
in 1987. Helen and Virgil were married
over 50 years. They were a terrific team.

            Virgil had a very generous heart. My first realization of his generosity occurred when I was a preschooler, and my family was hurriedly erecting a house on land bought by my parents a couple of years earlier. When the landowner wanted to move to the land my family leased, preparation began in earnest and at rapid velocity. Virgil took one of his trucks to Oklahoma City. He knew his way around the city and showed my parents and grandparents places to get lumber, plumbing supplies, fixtures of all sorts, and other building essentials. They purchased what was needed, and he transported it back to the Bend.

Innumerable young people and children attended summer church camp thanks to anonymous gifts given each year by Virgil. One could count on him to donate liberally, but silently, to any effort in our church.

Virgil not only gave monetarily to the work of the Lord, but more importantly, of his time. Each Saturday for many years, he contacted kids for his church bus route. He then drove the Ralston Baptist Church’s bus on Sunday morning to provide a ride for a busload of children and youth. Only heaven will reveal the lives impacted by his visits.

Standing in front of the bus door are the bus drivers - Virgil Rice, Kendall
Richardson, and Bob Bradley. Standing on the bus steps those who enlisted the
riders each Saturday - Sharon Stewart and Gayle Reynard. 

I recall at his funeral that his niece, Vickie Joy Rice Cabell, delivered a short impromptu eulogy as to his loving and tender care of Aunt Emma. Virgil checked daily on his mother’s youngest sister, Emma Rainey Buckley, who lived alone, even though she was in her 90s. He delivered groceries, took her mail to her, and brightened her day even though he had a full sun-up to sundown day ahead of him. (Virgil was blessed to have his daughter-in-law, Barbara Chapman Rice, lovingly care for him, allowing him to spend his final days in the comfort of his home surrounded by those he loved.) 

When Virgil received his diagnosis of malignant cancer, my mother began to pray in faith, believing he would experience healing. It was devastating to her when his health continued to decline. Her consternation continued at his death. Why would he be taken when he was working fervently to tell people about Jesus and His gift of forgiveness for them? Eventually, Mother had to accept that God had a plan greater than what she could see. Virgil’s life continues to stand as a model of caring for God’s creation and sharing with people, in as many ways possible, with his words and actions, how they could have a full life here on earth through Jesus and spend the afterlife in His presence.

One of my favorite photos of Virgil and his only son, Rick.I took this at the
adult Valentine banquet at Ralston Baptist Church on February 13, 1993.